The acupuncture and Chinese medicine clinic of Jamie Hamilton - for professional acupuncture in Farnham, Surrey. I treat a wide variety of conditions including pregnancy, migraine, anxiety, back pain and sciatica. Clinical specialties are acupuncture for fertility and for insomnia. I'm located in peaceful Lower Bourne with parking right outside the practice and a calm purpose-designed treatment room.
I have taken extended specialist training in with Naava Carmen's acclaimed "specialist to expert" fertility acupuncture course and ongoing professional development, and so am member of their Fertility Support Experts group of practitioners, which ensures excellent ongoing training and professional support. This training and CPD includes the skill set to interpret blood tests that include markers for reproductive immunology: TH1, TH2, NKC etc. Prior to that I took the acupuncture, IVF and natural fertility training course with the Zita West Fertility Clinic.
I have also recieved training with Ian Stones, a leading fertility expert on the specialist subject of male fertility, including interpretation of COMET sperm DNA fragmentation tests.
I am a fertility acupuncture specialist, giving extended treament courses to both assist with the IVF process and support natural fertility. I also treat recurrent miscarriage, PCOS, endometriosis and reproductive immunology. Chinese herbs for fertility are available, making treatment all the more effective.
Male fertility is always considered as a vital part of the fertility equation, and I encourage treatment for both parts of a couple where this is an issue.
It is really important to consider treatment as a long term investment. For couples considering acupuncture for IVF I always recommend a 4 cycle i.e. 16 week series of sessions.
I have a passion for helping my patients sleep better. It has become increasingly clear to me in recent years how poor sleep impacts our health and wellbeing. It is my belief that problems with sleep are the number one unresolved issue in medicine today. So the benefit of improvement to all our systems make helping sleep a number one prioity.
Because of this I have made insomnia a major clinical specialization. Since 2002 I have studied sleep and in 2018 made my own extended clinical study on insomnia acupuncture.
Extended weekly treatment is the most useful approach for long term sleep issues.
My core approach is the practice of giving regular weekly sessions to transform difficulties. This is very important to set goals to aim for and deliver improvements that we can see and feel. With weekly treatments, ideally taken at the same time of the day and week, the effect of the treatment begins to build up so that solid progess is made. This can then improve every aspect of one's body, emotions and mind: tuning into the wellness inside. With so many ways available of approaching any problem, I find that with persistance, positive change can be achieved!
The key step is this: when you commit to a regular weekly treatment series, you are commiting to transforming your health for the better in a long term way. Then I can help make that intention a reality.
"My Chinese Medicine experience with Jamie has been superb! I loved the integrated approach of mind- body and emotions that I had heard so much of and can now see how well it all comes together. I came seeking help with my really stuck sleeping problems and have now really improved." Mrs W. T. of Lower Bourne
“4 sessions of acupuncture and your magic heat lamp have totally sorted my back and knees. Thank you! I'll be back for maintenece sessions." Mr. I. F. of Farnham
Acupuncture is an integral part of Chinese medicine, the original "Holistic Therapy", and as such offers a unique view of the body. A key benefit is that It sees body, mind and emotions forming a whole, and addressing and one of these three must include the other two to regain balance. As an acupuncturist I am able to take the long view of a person's condition and focus on the innate wellness and wholeness of the body. This shifts the view from a problem centred one to a solutions centred one, and then helps build health and wellness based on concrete changes in the persons balance of vitality. This is what I call a "Solutions focussed approach": read more in this blog post.
Acupuncture is a well proven path to treat all manners of pain, be it muscular, arthritic or internal (for instance digestive pain). It is also useful for general pain syndromes where pain is felt throughout the body. For most conditions I am able to add the wonderfully soothing effect of a heat lamp for the area affected, and with that the use of a special warming balm that I actually make right here in the clinic called Purple Dragon Professional Salve this is also available for use at home and can be purchased in the clinic shop online or actually physically at the clinic when you attend your session. Many sorts of musculoskeletal pain, such as knee pain, tennis elbow and sciatica are often referred to an acupuncturist, very often by general practitioners and hospital consultants. Indeed acupuncture has so well embraced by the medical community that doctors and physiotherapists are learning this healing art for themselves. However, as degree educated traditional acupuncture practitioners, we feel that we are best placed to give this treatment form.
The treatment of back pain and/or sciatca with acupuncture is usually quite straightforward. Success is often linked with changes in lifestyle and posture. Some guidelines for exercise will be given if needed. As a rule of thumb the length of treatment is very much connected with the length that the condition has been present for. Back conditions usually split into two types. The first type may be thought of as a long term condition usually not of an excruciating pain level but as a long-term discomfort. Treatment of this long-term back pain (= chronic) is best thought of as a long-term approach, for which I recommend the 8 or 16 week option. The second type is a much more short-term condition and often is characterised by quite extreme levels of pain. Often the first type of back pain was present first, indicating that there was a long time weakness in the area... but this may very commonly give way to the second type. Treatment of this second type of back pain (=acute) usually will require quite extensive treatment with acupuncture, (actually this would also be the case for any kind of treatment for instance physiotherapy) commonly with treatments once or twice a week for at least four weeks. For serious back pain I recommend an 8 week series of treatment, available on the booking page.
Jamie Hamilton is a degree qualified acupuncturist registered with the British Acupuncture Council, a qualified Chinese herbal medicine and shiatsu practitioner, a teacher of Chinese Medicine, co-prinicpal of a Chinese medicine CPD college and in 2022 a published author in the professional literature.
Jamie Hamilton LicAc LicCCH BSc MBAcC
So: what do the letters after my name mean?
LicAc is Licentiate in Acupuncture.
LicCCHM is Licentiate in Classical Chinese Herbal Medicine.
BSc is a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Acupuncture (2:1 grade at College of Intgrated Chinese medicine validated by Kingston University
MBAcC is Member of British Acupuncture Council, the UKs leading professional body regulating acupuncture practice. See FAQ below for more.
I have been interested in Chinese medicine since 1987 when travelling in China where I was involved in a serious bike accident. I met a blind Chinese medicine practitioner there who used a variety of effective methods to heal my injured arm, and this planted the seed for my Chinese Medicine practice. I have been in practice with Chinese Medicine since 2003. With my training ranging initially from therapeutic massage with the Maitri Foundation and shiatsu with the European Shiatsu School (ESS) with the great Chris Jarmey and George Dellar. I taught shiatsu for the ESS starting in 2006 and for my own school: East West College, from 2009. In that same year I started my acupuncture degree at College of Integrated Chinese Medicine (CICM) with the wonderful Angie and John Hicks who inspired the sense of importance to consider the emotional aspect of treatment.
My herbal medicine training started in 2018 with the Jing Fang Apprenticeship with master herbalist Fran Turner, and I graduated in 2020. I continue to teach for colleges in the U.K. and am now co-principal of East West College, providing innovative CPD courses for acupuncture practitioners.
In 2015 I began to investigate the diagnostic procedures in Chinese Medicine. This began with the practice of Applied Channel Theory as taught by the incredible practitioners Dr. Wang Ju-Yi, Dr. Jason Robertson. and Johnathan Chang. I have been fortunate to have met and studied with Dr. Wang in Beijing in 2016 as well as taking advanced seminars with Jason and Johnathan in Switzerland and Beijing.
In 2016 I began a major area of personal research into pulse diagnosis culminating in developing an innovative method based on Classical techniques called the Mai Jing ABC method.
I now regularly teach this method and have written a book about it called Essential Pulse Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine, published by Singing Dragon in April 2022.
I will first take a detailed medical history to better understand the condition that you are coming with, this is an important step, and expect to answer a variety of questions about both your physical and sometimes emotional condition where relevent.
In the clinic you then rest on a comfortable treatment couch in a super peaceful treatment room, and then ultra fine needles are inserted into specific points on the body.
Sometimes I may also use a smouldering herb called ‘moxa’ to warm these points, and cupping therapy to ease muscular pain. A very usual aspect of treatment I add now is the use of a heat lamp and a special salve (made right here in the clinic). This is used to ease muscle and joint pain and is really effective!
The benefits of acupuncture therapy can be grouped into three broad categories of action:
Relaxing Tension, Boosting Vitality and Calming Anxiety
These three actions are a catchphrase of treatment, and actually underpin some of the key theories and mechanisms of the method.
Relaxing Tension is all about stress, and our response to stress. We find a new, very relaxed mode of life.
Boosting Vitality is about combating tiredness, and increasing our inner spark of vitality.
Calming Anxiety is about finding a calm core of our being that can't be shaken by life's ups and downs.
Each of these actions correspond to a set of specific channels and points in the acupuncture system. When we rebalance the body by focussing on one aspect, we actually enhance all three, as these actions are mutually interlinked.These states actually underpin our health, allowing our system to work optimally, increase bloodflow, enhance metabolism, boost the immune system, provide good sleep and maintains our fertility.
The meaning of the english word "acupuncture" is interesting. Acu means "sharp" and is also found in such words as accurate. "-puncture" is just like it sounds! In chinese the words used for it is "zhen-jiu" 针灸 which means needling (with an acupuncture needle) and moxabustion. That last word refers to heat treatment, often by using a glowing herbal stick we call a "moxa stick". By the way, it is not spelled "accupuncture", although this often shows up on search results!
Acupuncture is an extremely safe technique, with very high standards of hygiene and training. Degree level training and continuing professional development ensure a professional approach. I am a member of the British Acupuncture Council which insists on a code of safe practice, ensuring that levels of hygeine and safety in treatment are extremely high.
In essence there are no negative side effects to treatment. Very few adverse effects of treatment have ever been recorded, and these few were traced to unregistered practitioners. On the contrary, the after effect of acupuncture is overwhelmingly positive, with incresed relaxation and sense of wellbeing.
How acupuncture works is a really good question! Because acupuncture is a traditional treatment form in China for literally thousands of years, it something of a fact of life that acupuncture gives effective treatments, and ordinary people are not very questioning of "how" and "why" it works. Here in the west, we use the scientific tradition to know and make progress, so to answer this we can approach it from this tradition.
In scientific terms acupuncture is thought to profoundly stimulate nervous system, the cerebellum, endocrine system and immune system. Functional MRI scans show actual changes in the cerebellum (part of the brain) during acupuncture needling that relate to increased parasymathetic sysem function and release of dopamine. These changes are then thought to actually mediate direct changes in physiology.
It is quite well known that pressing certain points / places has an benficial effect on the body. Acupuncture uses these same places, and with placing a needle to a depth of half an inch or so it can make a very specific change. In fact the traditional Chines terms for these places are actually called "holes" or xué 穴
Knowledge of acupuncture points is well known in the technique of acupressure and uses the same places as acupuncture but with strong pressure applied. This can be very useful for clients to use for themselves and I show some self-care acupressure points here on the wellbeing page of this site.
Another excellent question. The short answer is "Yes acupuncture works!".
For most conditions that people come to treatment for, they experience a decrease in symptoms.The long answer is that it is actually not so easy to answer this question with 100% certainty. In common with other "complex medical interventions" like physiotherapy, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, surgery and nursing, it is very hard to tell with complete accuracy how well the therapy does. This is because the actual nature of the intervention is completely individualised for each and every client. We do not generally follow standard protocols, and no two treatments will be exactly alike. This means that following more stringent scientific testing is never going to be possible for acupuncture. That being said, there is increasing evidence for the efficacy of treatment for acupuncture. This is reported widely across scientific papers. I use the Journal of Chinese Medicine as my main source of scientific information showing the ways that acupuncture works. for many conditions, there is quite reasonable levels of evidence for treatment, and I often use this information to plan my treatments and communicate with my patients regarding treatment outcomes.
I am passionate about addressing patient's main complaints well, using evidence based acupuncture appropriately and persuing the latest professional training or CPD. These two factors of Evidence based acupuncture and ongoing CPD form the gold standard of acupuncture care.
Yes, it is not far Farnham town centre, situated on the south side so nearer to the station in peaceful Lower Bourne, just off the Bourne Green. If you live in South West Surrey (Farnham - Guildford - Hazelmere) or North West Hampshire (Alton - Aldershot) then I am in easy reach.
For IVF/ fertility acupuncture patients they do often look at driving time to CARE Fertility Woking IVF clinic which is approximately 30 minutes to/ from East West Clinic.
Sometimes clients do come from further afield, and for Insomnia Acupuncture that makes sense for this is a very rare clinical specialisation.
The main professional body that regulates acupuncture in the UK is the British Acupuncture Council or BAcC. It has a very rigorous set of requirements for training acupuncture courses, which is done through the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board, providing degree level training at colleges.
I trained at an accredited college and have been a registered member of the BAcC for over 10 years. I keep close contact with local practitioners and was for a number of years the Regional group coordinator (Surrey/ Guildford group) for the BAcC. The British Acupuncture Council itself is part of the Professional Standards Authority which helps to uphold professional standards in conduct and treatment.
The British Acupuncture Council has a very well developed set of codes of professional practice and safety, available on their website, which every registered practitioner must comply with, plus the requirement to take at least 24 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses content every year, ensuring members keep their professional skills and standards at a very high level.
Currently the clinic does not offer courses: these are done for acupuncture practitioners only our sister company East West College, These courses are offered to fully qualified practitioners for their Continuing Professional Development needs. However the clinic does plan courses in the future open to members of the public and patients of the clinic alike.
What we do do via the clinic however is offer tutorials: I am a teacher of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, and subjects I teach are: Mai Jing A-B-C pulse diagnosis, Applied Channel Theory, understanding 5 element acupuncture and Shiatsu for Acupuncturists. I can also offer tutorials in these subjects that can be booked like booking for a treatment. Contact me for a link for that.
If you are interesting in going for a full degree training in acupuncture I can recommend the following nearby colleges:
College of Integrated Chinese Medicine which includes 5 element acupuncture training.
International College of Oriental Medicine for a Classical Chinese Medicine approach.
City College of Acupuncture for a TCM acupuncture approach.
